Among the prior art pet carriers are those taught by Gregory, U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,761, issued in 1973, and by Goetz, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,852,520 and D308,588, issued in 1989 and in 1990, respectively. Intended for use in transporting animals on airplanes, such pet carriers have structures which are sufficiently light in weight that they can be carried or, alternately, moved about on their own wheels.
These structures, typically fabricated from a durable plastic, give the carrier a potential serviceable lifetime of many years. Unfortunately, most owners have only very infrequent opportunities to use their carriers. Equipped with large ventilation openings located proximate with their top edges, prior art carriers offer very little weather protection for any would-be occupant(s), making the carriers unsuitable for outdoor service. Owners are left with little choice but to store the carriers, each of which takes up a large amount of storage space, between trips.